Opinion Journal: Did Saudi Arabia Start a War?

3/26/2015 1:00PM

The Saudi-led air assault on Yemen, and the prospects for a wider sectarian conflict. Plus, the political motivations behind the exchange of Taliban Five for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, and black leaders who emphasize personal responsibility over handouts.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... welcome to Opinion Journal I'm Mary Kissel ... a Saudi Arabia led coalition has launched airstrikes ... on a ride back militancy Yemen ... is this the beginning of a wider Middle East war ... Center for New American Security Senior Fellow Robert Kaplan easy author of many books ... most recently Asia's cauldron joins us now Robert is it significant that we've got about ten nations involved ... this is mainly sell ... let the other countries are members each of the United States and Saudi Arabia's goal ... outlines what prompted this trial was that ... Yemen is quickly becoming Stoy once again between in northern and southern Yemen as it was during the Cold War ... if you look in the territory controlled by the US she is trending Ile de tribesmen ... mainly in three years with the word nor pm and the cold war ... and the areas controlled by either al Qaeda ... war ally the former Lebanese the former on ... Yemeni President mainly to figures weed South Yemen of the Cold War ... and the Saudis are terror plot ... the al ... East team control what use to ignore him ... and can stabilize into a state the Saudi border area in south western ... Saudi Arabia will be still inside Saudi Arabia ... will be de stabilize because of the two ... are in the region ... it's very hard to control them ... the border between South western Saudi Arabia ... and more when Stern are a piano it looks like there are U S troops are airports is an unfair race that we know of ... that the effectively put the Obama administration on the side of the Iran here because ... we are not physically intervening ... I'd to prop up the pro US government ... well we don't know exactly the D tells of what ... intelligence support except for the US might ... or might not be ... so be backing up the Saudis and perhaps the Egyptians would ... remember the ... food he may be backed by Iran but you're on the thing though since in position to take over Yemen he is really nobody controls Tiananmen Roberts a a metaphysically takeover yet no really ... I mean they've got a a a regional reach now ... I going all the way I can decorate and Syria ... it tells ... me he were an ... Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy to make their regional reach meaningful in any ... color operational sense as I said ... and that is in a state of complete chaos ... these are you know the the ... the rebellion started and they generously from the round Iran only came in afterwards Shrewsbury or actionable twice the rate you're a music actually read ... she decision-making well we're going to fail this war is contained The under its present on a wider conflict but we certainly hope ... you'll join the show again soon Robert Kaplan ... and it's my pleasure Mary thanks for joining ... the army sergeant who was held by the Taliban at the White House exchange ... for five kerosene get now here's what the White House so that the time ... the point is that he's back ... he's going to be safely ... reunited with his family ... he said the United States with honor and distinction ... and will have the opportunity eventually to to learn what has transpired ... well now Army Sergeant Paul Byrd all is being charged with desertion ... Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Jason Riley is a Wall Street Journal and Fox News contributor joins me now Jason ... I didn't see the rights to mislead the public that served with honor and distinction that's going on here she says that the habit of misleading the public ... Mary you know this this this deal up sort of stuff right from the beginning ... is as soon as it was announced we had ... first hand accounts whether soldiers in his unit ... that what you think of desertion ... up later the administration had access to lenders that passed between ... the father ... and the son of things that been said ... this this seems to be acts like a deliberate effort ... to mislead the public in the service of a narrative that the war is winding down opposing get now ... and so forth and it turns out ... not be the case of quality wasn't as Susan Rice the president's self stadium known for his garden ... with four goals ... I don't know how this woman still has a job you know that he ... is her statement that he was serving ... God up served honorably is you know just the Spall sister statement that time ... a YouTube video a sparkling gutsy ... again she should not be pleasant present on anything ... let alone national certain what ... what was this deal the Taliban five that were released ... for the good guy is in for some of the hardest cases these are people that even the administration ... agreed should be held indefinitely ... this was this was a horrible ... horrible deal and sent a message ... that we were tiring of this war ... that we wanted pointed out I think it embolden ... the terrorists I think it may have even inspired groups like ISIS to go to pursue kidnapping is attack the kidnapping of Americans that is the argument though to go in the U S soldier who was then taken captive by their their their argument but but even if you believe in that argument there was no need to turn this man into a hero ... before we knew all the facts which seemed to be the intent of this administration ... it sends a broader message that this president ... is simply an over its head when it comes to form called the new look that bad taste and ... look at what's going on in Yemen insured is discussing Syriac ... noted that issues with allies like Saudi Arabia we also have issues with allies like ... like Israel I mean he just looks like he's in over his head on foreign policy and the how the steel has played out I think it's pretty ... well we've got an editorial in this morning's paper for more on this ... but for now Manhattan's to Jason Riley ... thanks very much ... Dan Henninger is next eighteen ... we note erases the mix this with the good about the passes the words we can buy them is move for where we on the how can we help each other can you ... can you tried to help us can we go to help us those two ... that was rapper common talking about race relations in the country with Jon Stewart of the daily show ... when Land Columnist Dan Henninger is here to ... talk about that a new trend in YouTube quality common in your column this morning but he also quoted other black leaders ... talking about personal responsibility is sustained ... yes I think it's something that is beginning to grow in the black community of what's interesting married is that people talking ... like common who just won the Academy word that John legend for the title song the movie Selma ... but as most of these people are off the politicians ... their outside politics and they don't have to look at ... race relations to the lands of political life ... so there was another rapper whose name is a sap for ... who thinks that the people who ... walk about race all the time to build that into a pole ... that this is something that they just sort of push all the time ... of Darryl Williams the music producer said on Carrara last borrowers that to that of ... last year that he thought that it was time for the races to stop talking about each other ... totally in terms of race and I think that ... this is taking it past the level that is existed in the Obama administration which between ... the president and the attorney general ... have made the racial component of ... the relationships between ... a black communities in the rest of the country front and center and while it is good ... to have a conversation about that ... my problem with the president Mr holder ... is that they have ... elevated the time and again but I've never taken it in a forward motion that never suggested ... that there is some solution other than in some cases ... imposing what will roll out a sense ... the sense from Obama and holder that they never think that racism can ever be sold in this country ... that Sonyis has always been anti hero of virus became ever ever ... well ... I think that is exactly the division between them and keep some of these people were talking in a different way ... who feel that ... rather than a problem the scenes be receding costly into the horizon I mean the Civil rights Act was passed fifty years ago SOMA was fifteen years ago and there has been progress ... that the new kind of thinking on race wants to find a way to begin ... or is all that some of these issues once and for all rather let them fester in depth ... conversation with in the black community in other words all there's no question about it I mean there's real ... controversy poll to all these people who said these things have been severely criticized the progress of logs for not understanding their own race ... but I think they do wonder Stanton they understand that they are Americans first ... and they would like to get to a point where they are able to think in those terms that everyone is able to think in those terms is American first and a member of a racial category second in your column this morning you talked about how the White House's use race ... as a weapon against Republicans is very hard for the GOP ... to ... respond to that because race let's face it is a sensitive issue sedan if you were sitting in the Senate ... receiving these inferences are attacks what would you say Howard is still around the confirmation for Loro Loretta Lynch to the attorney general which has been held up ... when the president was asked whether race was involved he said I don't know about that and Eric Holder said he didn't think it was a ... huge racial component there suggesting maybe there's a small racial component ... after fifty years Mary I really think the Republicans to stand up in the sun in the Senate ... and repudiate the Audi idea ... that there is racism involved in Rome Lynch's nomination in no uncertain terms ... nobody is thinking in those those terms anymore ... if it's dirty politics that's one thing but I think the Republicans ... should push back against the accusation ... that racism is involved in this confirmation ... pushback to feed ... and a calmness and Henninger ... thanks very much ... this new land on college campuses that once I about its interest in eighteen ... is the sustainability movement on college campuses a good thing ... or is a destructive that ... National Association of scholars present player with joins the show ... by masses a new report out Peter and that you hear more about it so so what exactly ... did your Association study ... we started the sustainability movement on college campuses across the country ... the focus on the handful of colleges and for which we could do better did that but we do book that the picture is holding a book that the curriculum still one ... of the blogosphere movement on the ... Range twist with the work its way into the fabric of American higher as well ... as a slide upon the screen that shows ... the statistics here ... I'm number of college programs and almost fifteen hundred ... involved in sustainability initiatives three billion dollars in annual spending while the whistle out of money ... some there when you look at these programs of all this spending ... what the results ... will the results for the there are many many college students in the country Grenoble in the world ... this is the movement of their times and there was that this ... commitment should override everything else would do ... well Why said that ... well despair because their misty no longer than a good education ... and placed third of being on a failed forgiving and looks cool Doctor nation very narrow slice the future ... and are probably building much of what they believe on that issue illusions ... so if you look at specific colleges because of fears that a parent out there a student ... I in pushing the war hurting ... about not getting a grade education Mattel so we look into doubt the Fort foliage is the noodle Cornell ... at Middlebury College from Aunt and sports or impulse thing ... we did cast a wider nothing of both the before and which is funded in some doubt ... on what the phone does the ... Fed very substantial ... force portion of their curricula or no devoted to the US ... yay ol' into Cornell ... on ... their or for four hundred sustainable courses until it Chrono was two hundred ninety ... of the Middlebury it's also over four hundred courses ... so these are these are pieces of the curriculum are no larger than any other single subject the air ... as supporters of sustainability and the sustainability movement might say ... well that's great they Yellen Middlebury these other colleges are spending money on any Korea to say what a good education or a bad education as ... well we're present a bomb the U S dollars Liberal Nationals physicians dollars Bieber present people who think carefully about the some sort ... of who we or our disposal would just average Americans were worried the boat ... the quality of preparation for the next generation of this country's leaders so we should focus on what literature science from a renewed focus on them for all you do things certainly the science of pickled serious matter but so those liberal education ... we want students can think critically and boys William broadly ... stands who can think critically wisely and probably some tickets for an idea to me ... National Association of scholars present it when thank so much for joining the show ... can follow us on Twitter or email us at Opinion Journal live at WSJ dot com I'm Mary Kissel with The Wall Street Journal editorial board ... thanks for watching